Justin Rose ‘baffled’ by praise after losing Masters play-off to Rory McIlroy

Justin Rose was ‘baffled’ by the outpouring of praise he received following his defeat to Rory McIlroy in a play-off at the Masters in April.

The 44-year-old have a superb final round featuring 10 birdies to force McIlroy into a play-off hole where the Northern Irishman’s birdie beat Rose’s par and won him the green jacket for the very first time.

It was the third time Rose finished as the runner-up at the Masters but he understood the 11-year toil McIlroy had gone through in his pursuit to finally complete a career grand slam and embraced his friend on the 18th green.

That act of sportsmanship garnered plenty of praise and well wishes from fans and the media but Rose feels that in hugging McIlroy he ‘didn’t do anything special’.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Rose explained: “I have had as many, if not more, messages than after Merion [when he won the US Open in 2013] or Rio [when he won Olympic gold in 2016] and the overwhelming sentiment was congratulations rather than commiserations.

“It is heartwarming, yeah, but, to be honest, I have been a bit baffled because I really didn’t feel I did anything special. I just gave a mate a hug on the 18th green and told him it was great to see how special it was for him and you know, just tried to sort of table my own disappointment.

“That’s all. Maybe there were some other bigger pictures at play.”

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Rose also believes the manner of his charge on Sunday’s round may have helped feed the amount of support he received in the aftermath as he made McIlroy fight to win the title.

“I had 10 birdies in that final round and at least made Rory work for it,” he added.

“aybe people appreciated me making it a fight and stopping what could have been a procession. And the fact I was the old-timer in that battle, viewers love that.

“I don’t really now see it as a loss on that Sunday, because I lost it on Saturday, when I turned a 69 into a 75.

“I think I played well enough to win. I mean, Rory played well enough to win a lot more comfortably than he did so everyone can say, ‘hey, I should’ve won, whatever’. But it’s like the level was there to win, which is important.”